There is one question that can’t be avoided: whose initiative was the amnesty of the BRAKO company and the continuation of the paments, disregarding the auditors’ recommendations, Bekim Sali, ex-health minister, asked on Tuesday’s press conference dedicated to the fire that incinerated the prefabricated hospital in Tetovo in 2021.

“Was it done on PM Kovachevski’s request? Or was it a good business opportunity for the current Health Minister Fatmir Mexhiti? Or, perhaps, it was an order by Artan Grubi?, Sali continued asking.

The press conference was held on the occasion of the Monday broadcasting of the Investigative Journalism Labaratory’s documentary Murder in Tetovo.

Sali, who was Health Minister at the time of the catastrophe that killed 14 Covid-19 patients, confirmed that the Ministry under his command ordered an audit of the entire tender documentation. The findings gave him legal grounds to cease the payments to the BRAKO company, which produced the faulty and dangerous prefabricated barracks. Despite the auditors’ recommendations, Sali explains, his successor initiated a Government decision to pay the company in full. The owner of the company was a high SDSM official and Vice-PM for Economic Issues.

He also pointed to the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor Ljubomir Jovevski, who instead of persecuting the real culprits that produced the deadly barracks, focused on irrelevant, minor offenses, thus protecting the company and its supporters in the Government.